China launches new electronic intelligence naval ship

BEIJING China's Navy has launched a new electronic reconnaissance ship, state media said on Thursday, the latest addition to an expanding fleet and as Beijing's new assertiveness to territorial claims in the South China Sea fuels tensions.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) now operates six electronic reconnaissance vessels, the official English-language China Daily newspaper said, noting that the PLA "has never made public so many details about its intelligence collection ships".

China has also said it is building a second aircraft carrier. China's only carrier is the second-hand, Soviet-built Liaoning, which this week unsettled neighbors with drills in the disputed South China Sea.

The new electronic reconnaissance ship, the CNS Kaiyangxing or Mizar, with hull code 856, was on Tuesday delivered to a combat support flotilla of the North Sea Fleet at the eastern port of Qingdao, the China Daily said.

"The Kaiyangxing is capable of conducting all-weather, round-the-clock reconnaissance on multiple and different targets," the newspaper said, citing Chinese defense media as comparing it to sophisticated vessels only produced by countries with advanced militaries, such as the United States and Russia.